May 2018
Michelle
Porter
,
RN
ICU
Riverside University Health System - Medical Center
Moreno Valley
,
CA
United States
Michelle went above and beyond the duty of any bedside nurse. She was caring for a patient who had come into the ER not feeling well. She was a young mom of young children and had no idea that she would quickly be diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her body was critically ill and she was placed in the Adult Critical Care unit, which meant that her children could not come to see her. When she and her husband made the decision to go home with hospice, ambulance transport had to be arranged. She was still very sick and needed to remain on Levophed throughout transport to guarantee the arrival to her home, but the EMTs could not be responsible for maintaining the medications throughout transport. Because of her hospice status, she did not qualify for critical care transport, which meant that she could not go home to be with her family. That's when Michelle stepped in. Michelle generously offered to escort the patient home and offered to be responsible for maintaining the medication during the ride. Michelle was determined that her patient should get to go home one last time. The ambulance transport agreed to take the patient with Michelle as their CCRN and the patient was taken home to be with her family for whatever time she had left. Her children were so happy to be able to see their mommy and the family thanked Michelle over and over. Because of Michelle's extraordinary and selfless actions, this family was reunited for the irreplaceable time they had left together. Thank you, Michelle, for reminding us why we became nurses.